It is just that being a part time doctor just seems unfathomable. I mean in your later years sure, but not right off the bat or anytime soon after that.
You have your over 100k loans to pay off and you have to establish yourself. So making money is very important. Not to mention you just invested a ton of time becoming a doctor, I don't see why you would give up so much for a part time job.
whoa. I think this is a bit hasty too.
To some people:
A) going to med school doesnt entail having loans to pay back. So its not like after medical school they are thinking, "I better start working, moonlighting all the time, etc, so I can get these LOANS paid off." Hard for you to believe? Sorry, its true.
B) despite their TIME investment, it is REALLY not about the money, its about helping people and doing something meaningful with their lives, but at the same time, they want to have a family, and be fulfilled in other areas aside from their career. so what, exactly, are they "giving up?" a more high-powered 24/7 career, to be home with their children a bit more? Is that a crime? Maybe its not something you think is a priority in YOUR life, but that doesnt mean that anything is wrong with it.
I was serious about the PA thing. It really is great for people who want to work part time and have a family.
Before you jump to conclusions abt the "PA thing," have you ever even talked to a PA? Do you know that there are major differences between what is done and what is allowed to be done by an MD vs PA? I mention this because after successfully completing all my premed requiremetns and taking the MCAT, I took a break, and a major step back from my medical aspirations and considered PA school for quite a while, but ultimately concluded that although as a PA i
might (and i emphasize might) have more freedom in terms of hrs and time to spend w/ my family off call, etc etc, It was never my dream, is never my dream, and I would always be looking back saying that I shouldve gone to medical school and I would always be frustrated in that I esseintlally would never become anything more than (no offense to pre-pa or pa students) a glorified senior resident.
We have people taking up med school spots and working two or three days a week. No wonder there is a doctor shortage.
Nursing shortage perhaps, but please show me statistics stating that there is a "doctor shortage" in the US. I havent heard that as of late.
If you want to be a single mom or something, you shouldn't be a doctor.
A, I dont want to be a "single mom" nor do most people who have kids. I do, on the other hand, want to have a family. There is nothing wrong with that, as is evidenced by the fact that abt 50% of all med school classes these days (in some schools even more) are composed of female students. When you show me raw data stating that maybe even TEN percent of these students have had oopherectomies in order to ensure that they will not ever have children which would effectively "mess up" their doctoring dreams, then, maybe ill believe you, and back down, because hten, maybe i am just a "minority," one of few future med students out there who wants to have kids and be a good dr.
Because if you hadn't taken that med school spot there probably would have been someone in it who would care for patients full time.
Again, where is your evidence?
I can assure you that there have been people who have had to wait twice as long to see a specialist they need because she wanted to stay at home with the kids more.
Highly doubtful. If some "specialist" is hired to work on Mondays and Wednesdays only, I dont think that her department, or her clinic or her office, or whatever, closes on the other days, in order to accomidate her family life. That is HER schedule, there ARE other drs. Someone who wants to see particularly Dr. X with kids who works monday and wed. only, might have to wait a week, but there are surely other drs in that office/clinic/dept they can visit as well.
There are great careers for people who want to be part-time, things that are not life and death. Being a doctor is not one of them.
??
I am not even gonna respond to this because it is just so immature and narrow minded. are you living in the 1800s? or do you come from some arab country where women are forced to walk around covered in black cloth w/ only their eyes peeking out?
Come on.
and, to the OP - YOU GO GIRL!!!
There are MANY subspecialties out there where a part time schedule is very do-able. NOT among these are probably cardiothoracic vascular and ortho surgery (most surgical subspecialties actually). But, you can do: Interventional Radiology, Noninterventional radiology, pathology, dermatology, opthamology, Plastics (after a long and grueling residency and fellowship, its definitely possible to make your own hours, have no call except when u want it, etc.), family or internal medicine, psychiatry, GI, radiation oncoogy, etc etc etc. The list goes on and on. You may not recieve the same benefits (health ins, etc), and you can expect obvious pay cuts, but in pretty much any medical subspecialty, its possible to find someone, somewhere, who will take you part time.
Sure, a single-doctor-mom (or dad) isn't the same as a married-stay-at-home mom (or dad), but that doesn't make them inherently better or worse, just different.
